Midnight at the Lost and Found
by DaydreamerNightwriter
Summary: Captain Kirk is kidnapped by an unidentified anomoly and finds himself stuck out of time and galaxy with a few familiar faces.


**Authors note: This is a bit of a strange one. Inspired by Meatloaf's **_**Midnight at the Lost and Found**_**. I'm not really sure where it's going, if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to PM me. Any reviews welcomed, good or bad! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Star Trek, it all belongs to Paramount.

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"_Enterprise,_ this is Kirk, stand by to open shuttle bay doors."

"Yes sir, we have you on scanners, 10 seconds until you leave the planet's atmosphere." Kirk smiled to himself as Chekov's Russian accent came over the Comm., it was distorted by radiation, but sounded beautiful none the less. It had been three days since he had boarded the shuttle and descended to the planets surface with his cargo of Federation diplomats. The Federation was in negotiations to bring the inhabitants of Tirla Fourde into the Federation, and as Flag Ship the _Enterprise_ had been commandeered to take the envoy to the planet. There was an unidentified radiation in the atmosphere that precluded the use of both communications and transporters so he had had to shuttle them down, and hadn't been in touch with his ship since.

"It's been a while, how has everything been up here, Spock?" He addressed his First Officer who he'd been forced to leave in charge of the _Enterprise_ because of the Tirlan's sense of propriety, they would only accept the Captain as shuttle pilot.

"Everything has been acceptable Captain. We had a visit from a Fourdan Battleship in our first hours of orbit, but they accepted our presence. They request that we send the envoy to them once we have collected them from the surface."

"That should be fine. Ambassador Gor'th thinks that they should be done in two Earth weeks and requests that we return then. But I'll brief you when I come aboard. Making my final approach now." He paused. "_Enterprise_ I'm picking up an anomaly to Port. Can you identify it?" There was silence from the ship. "Spock?"

"Yes Captain, we are aware of it."

"I'm glad, as it seems to be growing." He replied, edgily, trying to work out if he could manoeuvre around it. He heard nothing but static back and turned the shuttle sharply starboard to attempt to avoid it. Suddenly he heard Spock's voice, speaking to the Bridge crew.

"Lieutenant Sulu, prepare to take us to warp. Chekov, get a lock on the Captain, beam him aboard. As soon as the Captain is aboard, take us to Warp 2 Sulu. Commander Scott, are the engines ready?"

"Aye sir, as ready as they'll ever be."

"Uhuru, have you heard anything from the Captain?"

"No sir, only static. It's as if he's not there… wait. Commander, I've got him."

"Captain Kirk, prepare for emergency beam out." Chekov's voice cut across all the Bridge talk. "Captain? Can you hear me? Captain? I've lost his signal, I can't get a lock on him. Captain!"

***

"Captain!" Kirk wasn't aware that he had blacked out until he opened his eyes. Instead of the bright white of Bones' medical bay he was in a black room. Around him he could hear the echoes of Chekov's final desperate cry. He was sitting on a chair from the shuttle but the shuttle was gone, he stood up slowly. Somewhere above him there was a flash of light. He looked up at it and registered it as a ship going to Warp. 'They've left me here.' he thought to himself, a feeling of despair running through him.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" he called out, his voice echoing in the darkness. A speck of light appeared ahead of him, tiny and far away. "Hello? Can you help me?" Squinting at the speck of light he muttered "guess I'm not in Kansas anymore" to himself before using it as a guide.

The speck of light never seemed to get closer and Kirk had to amuse himself by playing hangman with an imaginary Spock, despite the fact that, although he was imagining him, Spock kept telling him it was illogical. Just as he'd won against him, Spock had chosen the ridiculously easy word Vulcan, the light stopped being a tiny little speck in the distance and became a blindingly bright sliver of light escaping through a crack in a door. He pushed it open tentatively.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Yes of course there is someone here. Why wouldn't there be?" An irritated voice answered out of the bright white light. "The main question is, what are you doing here? Are you lost or looking for something?"

"You didn't answer before when I called when I was out there." Kirk gestured behind him.

"There is no out there. You weren't here when you were out there, therefore there was no one here to answer you. Are you lost or finding?"

"Excuse me? I was on my shuttle, and there was an anomaly and then I was there, in the dark."

"Except you weren't because there doesn't exist, and there is no dark there. You must be lost. I was hoping you would be a finder, I could do with someone coming to find something." The voice sounded irritated, even a little wistful.

"Where am I?" he asked, more than a little angrily. The response was amused.

"You're in the lost and found." The voice's tone angered him, it made him feel that he should have known that, but how could he have known?

"The lost and found where? What places lost and found?" He demanded, his voice rising in anger. The response was laughter. "Damn it, answer me! I am Captain James T Kirk of the USS _Enterprise_." The voice was silent, and Jim Kirk wondered what was behind it.

"Is that so? Federation. Yes, we do seem to have a lot of you at the moment. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll forget soon enough. This is the place for forgotten things after all." The light dimmed, and Kirk could make out a mahogany desk, behind which sat a tall spindly woman, with half moon glasses, hair pulled in a tight bun on the back of her head, a thin neck rising out of a business like blouse open at the neck. "Welcome to the Lost and Found, Mr Kirk, if you will follow me, I believe there are spaces in Midnight at the moment." She stood up and walked to a door near by. Stepping through it she gestured to him and then muttered to herself. "I do wish he'd been a finder. I really am running out of space here."

***

"Captain!" Chekov's final cry to the Captain echoed around the Bridge, and a strangled gasp from Uhuru joined it. Spock and the rest of the Bridge crew watched in horror as the anomaly enclosed the shuttle within its shadow and it seemingly disappeared. "I… I couldn't do it, Captain." Chekov said finally, half addressing the Captain who had slipped through the grasp of his Transporter beam and half addressing Spock, acknowledging his rise in command. Spock ignored it, rereading the scans of a second ago when they had lost the captain. The officer at the Science Ops. interrupted the silence.

"Sir, the anomaly's growing. It'll take us too." Spock nodded.

"Mr Sulu, take us to a safe distance."

"Aye sir." The softly spoken helmsman replied. "Warp Two sir." He dropped them out of Warp less than a minute later. "All stop sir, we are 2500 kilometres away from Tirla Fourde." Spock nodded again.

"Mr Peterson," he addressed the Science Officer, "Please continue to monitor the anomaly. Lieutenant Uhuru, please send out a message to all nearby vessels, warning them of the anomaly. See if you can work with Mr Scott to break through the planets radiation and inform them." She only nodded in reply and began work at her desk. Her hand flew to her ear, holding the earpiece tight.

"Sir, the anomaly…" she began, at the same time as the Science Officer.

"Sir, the anomaly has grown." Peterson finished the sentence and then let her finish, knowing what she was going to say.

"The Fourdan ship we encountered is sending a distress call, they are… gone sir. It's gone silent."

"Sir." Chekov said, his voice quiet. "I can read no life signs from the planet surface. But I have located our shuttle, it is 100 Kilometres from where we left it, it appears to have drifted. There are no life signs." He looked at Sulu, as Sulu predicted Spock's next move and set co-ordinates to return.

"The anomaly has disappeared sir." Peterson sounded awed and confused, "the Shuttle, the planet and the Fourdan ship are all intact."

"Return to the planet, Mr Sulu, and regain orbit." He pressed his finger to the button on the side of the Captain's chair. "All hands, this is the C… First Officer speaking. We have lost the Captain as he returned to the ship. All hands report to duties, and await orders from your commanding officers. We are now at Yellow Alert." The ships computer obliged with the bleeping tone of the alarm system and they dropped out of Warp. "Mr Chekov, go to the Transporter room and beam aboard our shuttle to retrieve it. Once you have secured any… evidence, take it to the planet's surface. Dr McCoy, report to Transporter One, I would like you to beam aboard the Fourdan ship."

A series of aye sirs met his orders and Spock almost slumped in his chair as he tried to deceiver the occurrences.

***

"Captain Picard, I pressssume?" the snakelike humanoid hissed as Picard entered the conference room.

"Yes, I am Captain Jean Luc Picard, of the US…"

"Ssss Enterprissse, NCCccc One Ssseven Oh One D. We know who you are. We are the Fourdanssss." Picard bowed his head in acknowledgement, it was the first time in over a hundred years that the Fourdans had allowed others to see them as they truly were. There were few of them left following a mass unexplained incident many years before in which the whole population of Tirla Fourde had vanished, along with a diplomatic envoy from the Federation and a bright up-coming Captain named James T Kirk. Star Fleet had had great hopes for the young Captain, he had been born in the heat of battle, and became Captain after barely three years at the Academy, in much the same circumstances as he had been born. Both Captain J. T. Kirk and his father had been the subject of many Academy dissertations, including that of Picard.

"I am pleased that after so much time you are willing to meet with us again. The Federation has, for many years, been searching for answers to what happened, but…" the being before him nodded and interrupted.

"It hasss proved difficult for usss alssso, and we appreccciate your effortsss. But now, we wisssh to make peace with the passst. We mussst accept that which isss and hasss happened and find ourssselvesss a place in your Federation. We feel that it isss long overdue." Picard again nodded, and felt a bit like a puppet being manipulated by a higher power.

"I shall leave you to your negotiations and return to my ship, there are many things the Federation has asked us to ensure are in place for your safety before we leave, it will be easier to accomplish them now." The Fourdans had recently returned to their home planet, with new safety shields in the atmosphere, to protect them in case the anomaly returned. It hadn't reappeared here, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Geordi LaForge was also working on a design by Montgomery Scott of the _Enterprise_ to neutralise the radiation which would, hopefully, allow communications and transporters.

"We underssstand." The Fourdan replied. "Pleassse, Ambassssadorsss, come thisss way. We have refressshmentsss laid out for you." Picard stood back and watched the two negotiating parties walk into the refurbished governmental buildings and wondered if this was one of Kirk's last visions. When they had gone into the building, he turned and entered the shuttle. He pressed the Comm. button to start the obligatory communication with _Enterprise_ and then realised that it was pointless. They wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. He pressed a few buttons and the shuttles engines roared into life. He carefully set the course for the _Enterprise_ and checked the long range scanners, nothing but static. He would have to hope that she was where she was supposed to be. He took off and piloted the little shuttle carefully up and out of the atmosphere.

On the Bridge of the _Enterprise_ Will Riker was getting worried. Scanners had picked up something odd near the edge of Tirla Fourde's atmosphere, near where the shuttle should be reappearing. They had no way of contacting the Captain, and no way of knowing if he was on his way or not.

"Keep trying to hail him. Maybe if we just keep doing that he'll hear us in time to alter course. Mr Data can you tell me anything about that thing?"

"It appears to be similar to the anomaly encountered by the original _Enterprise_, it does appear to be growing in size, but the shields we have put in place around the planet appear to be holding it at bay."

"Very good Mr Data. Mr Crusher, make us ready for Warp 4 if we need to leave in a hurry. If that thing comes close, go without waiting for me to say engage. Mr O'Brien?"

"Yes, sir."

"I need you to be scanning for the Captain's ship. If I say the word beam him out of there."

"Aye sir." The Irishman's response came quickly.

"Well, that's all we can do, now we play the waiting game."

In the cockpit of the shuttle the Comm. crackled. Picard looked at his telemetry, he was almost out of the atmosphere.

"Captain Picard, if you can hear this, alter course, the anomaly is close to your presumed position. Be advised. The anomaly is close to your position." It was of course too late, he was in the atmosphere, if he tried to alter course now he would be burnt up. Best to try to dodge it as he came out. The computers warning bell sounded and he had enough time to hear Will yelling:

"O'Brien, get him the hell out of there!"

***

"O'Brien, did you get him?"

"No Commander. All I got was his comm. badge. I'm sorry Commander."

"Not your fault chief. Not your fault." Riker sat down heavily on the Captain's chair. "I should have gone instead. Data, are the planetary shields still holding?"

"Yes sir, and the anomaly seems to be disappearing." Riker nodded.

"Very good. Thank you Mr Data."

***

When he came to, Picard could still hear his First Officer yelling to Chief O'Brien, but he when looked around himself, he was alone, on the bridge of the _Stargazer_.

"How very odd." He murmured. "I'm only missing three things, a little black dog, a blue checked pinafore and a yellow brick road." Looking around, there seemed to be only one option, his Ready Room. He walked through the door to be confronted by a school teacher sitting at his desk. "Who are you, and where am I?"

"I am the caretaker, and this is the Lost and Found. Are you Lost or Looking?"

"I would presume Lost as I don't know where this is."

"Very well, who are you?"

"I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS _Enterprise_." The woman frowned.

"How odd. Come with me, I think there's still some room for Federation captains in Midnight. I do wish someone would come and find things. I really don't have much space left." Picard followed the _caretaker_ through the door and into a corridor of shelves and containers. They were alphabetically arranged, starting with A for Apple. They walked along the rows until they reached M, at which point the woman pulled a stepladder towards them. "It's the third container up. I hope you enjoy your stay, and I do hope someone comes to find you soon." She turned and walked away, leaving the captain little to do but climb the ladder. He knocked on the door when he reached one saying Midnight, and it swung open abruptly and strong hands pulled him in. He was faced with a familiar face, he knew he knew it from somewhere, but he couldn't place it.

"Good to meet you, it's getting a little boring in here." the blond long-faced man enthused.

"Ha." A red-headed female berated him. "Just because you were loosing to Mr Scott here does not mean that it is boring." She stepped forward and shook Picard's hand.

"Welcome aboard. I'm Captain Rachel Garrett of the USS _Enterprise – C_ that's Captain John Harriman of the _Enterprise – B _and the Scottish one beating him at chess is Montgomery Scott, one time Chief Engineer of the _Enterprise_ and the _Enterprise – A_. You are…?"

"Jean-Luc Picard of the _Enterprise – D._ How did you all come to be here?"

"The same way as you I would imagine." Scotty answered, standing up and coming to shake Picard's hand. "I would think that you were somewhere near Tirla Fourde, and that you were for some reason in your shuttle craft, and then you were in a room and found your way to the front desk of the Lost and Found. She seems to be putting all the Enterprise people in one room. And it seems to be some kind of temporal anomaly as well, as Rachel here arrived first, then Harriman and then me." Picard frowned.

"What year was it when you were brought here?" Picard asked them.

"2342" Captain Garret replied.

"2293" said Scotty, a frown on his face.

"2296" Harriman answered, a little red faced.

"And it was 2370 when I was taken. What about the two back there?"

"Robert April and Christopher Pike, they're here from 2246 and 2257. We appear to have a full set of Enterprise Captains." Garrett said quietly. "They don't talk much though."

"We're just missing Captain Kirk and Captain Spock." At that moment there was another bang on the door, and Picard went to swing it open.

"Captain Kirk, I presume." He said as he saw the dusty blond headed young man climbing into the container.

"That's my Kirk alright!" Scotty exclaimed.

"But, Scotty, you were on the Enterprise. It left, how are you here? And why are you so old?"

"Ah, Captain. It brings joy to my soul to see you again sir." As Scotty drew Kirk away to explain things to him, Picard beckoned to the other four Enterprise Captains.

"We have a distinct problem." He said quietly. "I know all of your histories. I know how and when all of you died, and it was after the date you came here. I even met Scotty last year."

"Well, I don't see that as a problem, son." Robert April said, assuming a fatherly role due to his seniority in Captaincy. "It means we all get back."

"No… it doesn't." Picard said quietly, glancing at the Captains of the B and C.

"Because Kirk isn't there. Kirk disappeared in an anomaly above Tirla Fourde in 2257. He was never heard of again." Garrett said slowly. "That means… he doesn't get back."

"He's also the main reason you and I are here, Rachel." John Harriman added. "We were investigating Tirla Fourde when we were stolen from our shuttles." The three older men, Picard, April and Pike all frowned looking at each other.

"Seems to me we need to get all of us back." Pike said. "Kirk was a top notch officer, he was really going places, Star Fleet really needs him." The others nodded.

"Agreed."

"Question is, how do we do it?" Kirk said from behind them. They looked around surprised; they hadn't heard his and Scotty's conversation finish. Behind Kirk, Scotty shrugged apologetically.

"Not sure." Picard answered after he had recovered from his initial shock. "First, we should get out of here. Maybe that woman on the front desk can help?"

"Oh, yeah she was so helpful when I got here." Kirk replied.

"He's always been good at the sarcasm." Scotty commented. Kirk looked at him.

"Ha!" he retorted. "Now, getting out of here?" He strode over to the hatch and spun the door handle, and heaved it open. "Easy." He looked around, "Who wants to go down the ladder first?"


End file.
